VW oiler is slicker

The up­dated com­pact SUV adds safety kit and a punchier diesel

A NEW flag­ship and a more pow­er­ful diesel vari­ant are the am­mu­ni­tion Volk­swa­gen Aus­tralia has loaded into its Tiguan com­pact SUV range for its re­turn to bat­tle.

Also mak­ing the high­lights reel is the in­clu­sion of a rev­ers­ing cam­era, dis­played on the new in­fo­tain­ment touch­screen. The driver also comes to grips with a leather- wrapped multi-func­tion steer­ing wheel and will be mon­i­tored by stan­dard driver fa­tigue de­tec­tion.

The other debu­tant in the Volk­swa­gen com­pact SUV lineup is the R-Line des­ig­na­tion for the 155TSI model, with R body kit, 18-inch al­loy wheels, adap­tively damped sus­pen­sion (the only Tiguan so op­tioned), leather sports seats and satnav.

Also now stan­dard rangewide on the up­graded Tiguan, ac­com­pa­nied by a small price rise, is the XDL elec­tronic dif­fer­en­tial lock, which claims im­proved drive­abil­ity, re­duced un­der­steer and slicker cor­ner en­try and exit.

Both have start-stop fu­el­sav­ing . Fuel use is 6.9L/100km and 7.3L re­spec­tively.

The 2.0-litre turbo (132kW/ 280Nm, 8.8L) and the turbo diesel (130kW/380Nm, (6.2L/100km) are both DSGonly and can be op­tioned up to in­clude panoramic sun­roof, leather trim and satel­lite nav­i­ga­tion.

On mainly mo­tor­way cruis­ing with some wind­ing hill roads, the new diesel im­presses for its quiet cruis­ing and the ef­fec­tive out­puts. Ride qual­ity re­mains rea­son­able, as does steer­ing weight and abil­ity, and it can cor­ner with­out un­due alarm at a brisk pace.

The driv­e­train can be caught on the hop by the com­bined ef­fects of the turbo spool­ing-up and twin-clutch gear­box se­lect­ing a ra­tio but, once the pair agree (the Sport drive mode is the bet­ter op­tion) and the revs have built beyond 2000rpm, the diesel 130TDI gets un­der way nicely.

The en­try-level 118TSI man­ual rises by $500 to start from $28,990.

The mid-spec 132TSI jumps by $600 to $36,990 while the 130TDI, the pick of the bunch, is $39,990, just $100 dearer. Top of the range is the 155TSI R-Line which at $44,990 is $1500 more than the su­per­seded model. Volk­swa­gen’s up­dated Scirocco R has had an early air­ing on Aus­tralian roads.

Pric­ing has yet to be an­nounced but is un­likely to rise when it goes on sale here early next year.

The sporty coupe has largely been in the shadow of the mul­ti­award win­ning Golf. It has shared pow­er­trains but not the most re­cent and lauded plat­form.

The third-gen Scirocco re­tains its 2.0-litre turbo (188kW/330Nm) but has new front and rear lights and bumper and will come only in white, grey, blue or black.

Its re­vised dash­board has a sec­ondary gauge clus­ter that harks back to its 1970s orig­i­nal.